Improvement in processes of making floor-cloths



NITED Sir-Arne PATENT ornron WILLIAM W. Home AND BENJAMIN T. MGKAY, on MANGHESTER,

GREAT BRITAIN.

IMPROVEMENTIN PROCESSES OF MAKING "FLOOR-CL OTHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 177,842, dated May 23, 1876; application filed March 29, 1876.

, is saturated with drying-oil and body color.

The face is charged or' coated with a ground -color,and canvas is cemented to the back.

The fabric may be plain or ornamental, as in the case of other floor-cloths.

When carrying the-invention into effect a selection may be made of thirty-six per cent. of moist cow-hair, twenty per cent. of wool- Waste, twenty per cent. of old woolen carpets, twenty-four per cent. of old carpets containing wool and. linen. The cow-hair is first washed in a rag-engine, the roll being so arranged as not to have a cutting action. When cleansed the hair is drained. .The remainingmaterials should be free from dirt.

The materials are placed in a rag-engine, and

as the carpets containing linen usually require the most beating they are first placed in the engine, the cow-hair being put in last. The materials are beaten in this engine until sufficiently washed, and are then let down into a second rag-engine, in which the materials are reduced to a pulp. The pulp so formed is supplied to a paper-machine, wherein a web or sheet is formed, the operation being simi lar as when making paper, with the exception that the wire of the machine travels more slowly-say, for example, at about five feet per minute. The supply of pulp is so regulated as that the' finished web shall have a thickness suitable for its destined use--say, for example, a thickness of about one-sixteenth of an inch. The heat of the drying-cylinders shouldbe graduated, the first cylinder being unheated, or being only warmed, the last cylinder being heated to a temperature not exceeding about 300 Fahrenheit. The dry web doctor knife or blade.

this mixturethe web shouldbeimmers ed therein--say, for aboutthree quarters of a minute. The. web is then passed between calendenrollers, which press the oilnand color intorthe fabric- The ordinary calender of the paper machine may be employed for this purpose. The fabric is then suspended in festoons within a stove or heated room until the charge of oil and color is sufficiently dry. About fortyeight hours time is generally sufficient for the fabric to remain in the stove. It is then covered with a coating of oil and color, which may be applied in any suitable manner. In the arrangement found to be suitable the fabric is drawn over an endless couch or apron and under and in contact with the edge of a The mixture of oil and color is roughly applied to the upper sur face of the fabric, over which it is spread and made even by the action of the doctor. The color to be used must be suitable to the desired color of the finished floor-cloth. The fabric is again stoved until sufficiently dry, when it is backed with canvas which has been prepared and coated with oil and color in the following manner: pressed, or calendered, so as to close the interstices, and-is then coated on one side with a size consisting of boiled Irish moss and whiting. It is then dried or stoved, and again calendered. It is then coated on the sized side with a mixture of oil and color. The coating with size and color is effected in the same manner as when coating the aforesaid fabric. The canvas is then stoved a second time, and is again calendered.

A cement is prepared in the following manner: Raw linseed-oil is heated gradually to a temperature of about 400 Fahrenheit, and to each gallon are added four ounces of acetate of lead, and eight ounces of flake litharge, the mixture being agitated and maintained at about the same temperature for about twenty-- four hours, more orless, until converted into a thick tenacious substance,resembl1ng caout- The canvas is first rolled,

upon the surface by means of a doctor.

chou'c, when it is discharged from the boiler. One part of the said substance is mixed in a suitable machine with about two parts of earthy matter or matters, such as whiting,

i ocher, or umber, heat being applied to soften the fabric passes over a roller, table, or apron to the. said calender, the surface which is to be united to the canvas is roughly supplied with the said cement, which is evenly spread The canvas is led over the top calender-roller, and meets the fabric, and is firmly united therewith by the action of the said calender. It is advisable to heat the calender-rollers in order to soften the cement.

The said fabric may be printed or be ornamented in the usual manner, and after being dried, aged, and seasoned by exposure to the air for several weeks the floor-cloth is finished v and is ready for use, .the edges being suitably process, or the fabric may be used as a floorcloth in its plain or unprinted condition.

The proportions of the ingredientsherein given, and the mixtures of oil and color and the cement, are given as examples for guidance, but may be varied to some extent without departing materially from the nature of our invention.

We claim as our invention The process, substantially as described, of manufacturing'fioor-cloth-that is to say, forming a web or sheet of fibrous material, in which the fibers are aggregated by pulping, applyinga liquid or plastic composition to the web, uniting the same to a backing of canvas previously coated, and then passing the compound fabric between calendering and condensing rollers.

WILLIAM W. HULSE. B. T. MGKAY. V Witnesses as to W. W. HULSE: EDWARD K. DUTToN,

HUGH G. GRANT. Witnesses as to B. T. MOKAY:

GEORGE CLARK, ROBERT SKINNER. 

